Page 33 of Secrets of the Highwayman (Immortal Warriors #2)

R estlessly , Nathaniel kicked at the straw in Neptune’s stall. The big horse was restless, too, ears pricked, skin twitching. Nathaniel tried to persuade him to eat, but he ignored the feed, lifting his head to stare at the door.

“Do you think that bastard Trewartha will stay long?” Nathaniel murmured, and Neptune turned to him, as if interested in the question. “I wish I could tell him what I really think of him. Pengorren and Trewartha . . . they make a fine pair.”

Pengorren and Trewartha, they were both destroyers in their own way. Pengorren, who traveled through time and lived in different time periods, and was still here, somewhere. Trewartha, who was old and had lived in Cornwall for a very long time. Pengorren was old, too. He imagined that Pengorren would enjoy reading Trewartha’s book, and gloating over the blackening of Nathaniel’s memory. It was like something Pengorren would do himself. In fact, such a sly and underhand act was very characteristic of Pengorren . . .

“Oh God.”

He’d been an idiot. How could he have missed the clues? Pengorren was Trewartha. And Melanie was alone in the house with him.

Nathaniel ran to the stable door and flung it open.

Just as something big crashed into him, sending him backward onto the floor. He hit the stone flags hard and lay there, helpless, with the breath knocked out of him. A shadow fell over him, and then a heavy weight pressed down on his chest, and he felt the warmth of his own blood on his face.

“ A h yes . Dear Suzie.” Pengorren straightened up as he reached the landing. “Unfortunately she didn’t have your power, did she? I’m afraid to say she was hardly worth the effort. Still, it was enough to get me this far.”

Instinctively, Melanie edged along the wall, shaking, dizzy. “I hope you suffer for all eternity, you murdering monster,” she said, her voice trembling with grief. It couldn’t be. He was lying to her. Suzie couldn’t be dead. Not now when they were just beginning to find each other again after all these years.

“Poor Suzie,” Pengorren mocked.

He was towering over her now, and his shoulders were so broad, his feet planted apart. Imposing, terrifying, and almost completely regenerated.

She wanted to throw herself at him and bite and scratch him, to hurt him as he’d hurt her. But it was too late. She was sliding down the wall, her senses swimming. The end couldn’t be far away. Her mind was fading. She realized, with a pang, that she’d never see Nathaniel again . . .

“Pengorren!”

For a moment she thought she’d dreamed his voice, but it was coming from the bottom of the stairs. Why was he down there? He should be up here, with her. And then she could hear the sharp click of claws on wood, the rush of something moving swiftly, and a deep angry growling.

H is voice had the desired effect. Nathaniel watched as Pengorren spun around, staggering slightly—for all he looked like himself it was clear he didn’t yet have a young man’s strength. He climbed the stairs after Teth, and it wasn’t until he was halfway up that he saw Melanie on the floor near Pengorren’s feet. Her face was pure white, and she was slumped against the wall, her eyes sunk back into their sockets as if she had some terrible illness.

He shouldn’t have gone away and left her alone. He should have guessed. As he’d lain on the floor, with Teth licking his face—the warm wetness hadn’t been blood after all—he’d cursed himself for his lack of wits. Pengorren had bested him again.

Teth lunged, all demon. Pengorren let out a scream and fell back against a small table. They crashed to the landing, Teth on top, snarling, teeth fastened on the neck of Pengorren’s coat. Cloth ripped. Pengorren rolled over onto his front, lifting his arms to protect his head, but Teth grabbed hold of his sleeve, shaking it and making terrible noises in his throat.

Nathaniel stepped hastily around them and bent down to pick Melanie up in his arms. She was weak, almost too weak to lift her head as he shifted her so that she could rest her cheek against his shoulder. He began to back away down the corridor, carrying her with him.

“The key . . .” she managed, hardly more than a whisper. “He’s wearing it, Nathaniel . . . Take it . . . we must . . .”

He hesitated, glancing back at the writhing mass that was Pengorren and the hound. His first instinct was to take Melanie far away, to somewhere safe. But she was right. They had to have the key. He compromised, and carried her into one of the nearer bedchambers. It was a child’s room, musty with disuse, and he set her gently down on the narrow, iron-framed bed.

“Suzie,” she breathed, her eyes fluttering shut. “He has Suzie.”

He felt a pang. If Pengorren had Suzie, then she was probably dead. Eddie, too. But Melanie looked so ill lying there, so different from the bedazzling woman he was used to, he couldn’t tell her the truth.

“I’ll find her,” he said, and touched her cheek. “Stay here.”

She managed a smile, her eyes fluttering closed. She trusted him. Leaving her was one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do.

Out on the landing, Pengorren was still shouting and cursing. Teth had drawn blood and torn a long strip from his coat. The locket was dangling outside his clothing. Nathaniel edged in closer and grabbed hold of it.

Pengorren, realizing what Raven was up to, snatched for his hand, but it was too late. Nathaniel gave the chain a hard tug, and it snapped. The locket was his.

Pengorren threw back his head in a shriek of rage, and at the same time Teth saw his chance and dived in to bite his cheek. The flesh tore. Pengorren roared and lashed out with his fist, knocking Teth off-balance. The hound gave a bloodcurdling howl as he struck the banisters. He rolled down several of the stairs and sprawled there, stunned.

That gave Pengorren enough time to get to his feet and stagger backward until he was hard up against the wall. His clothing was ripped, he was disheveled and hurt, with blood dripping from his hands and his face; but when he turned his gaze to Nathaniel, his eyes were the same gleaming, savage blue they’d always been.

“Call off your mongrel!” he shouted.

Teth was back on his feet again, growling, but he was limping badly. He made a feint at Pengorren, forcing him to take a step sideways down the corridor. Immediately Nathaniel thought of Melanie, lying defenseless in the bedchamber, and took a step of his own, toward the stairs. He held up the locket, letting it dangle from the broken chain, and Pengorren’s gaze swiveled to him and narrowed.

“Want this, Hew?”

Pengorren swallowed, and pushed a swath of fair hair out of his eyes. The gash on his cheek was deep and brutal, and there was a long scratch on his neck. It was comforting to see he bled red, like ordinary mortals.

“Nathaniel,” he said with soft menace, “you’re making a terrible mistake. Give it to me now, and I might let you go.”

Nathaniel laughed. “I don’t think so.”

He was moving away, down the stairs, and Teth came with him, hobbling on three paws. Pengorren hesitated and glanced behind him, looking for Melanie, but there was no sign of her. Nathaniel could see his indecision, but he hoped Pengorren would think she’d escaped down the back stairs.

“How does this thing work, Hew?” he said, twirling the locket chain so that the locket spun crazily.

To his relief, Pengorren turned to him at last and began to follow. He showed Nathaniel his teeth in what was meant to be a smile. “I’m going to enjoy killing you,” he said.

The lights went out.

M elanie didn’t know how long she’d been lying on the narrow bed with the worn, patchwork cover, only that it was dark and she was freezing and so very tired. Her bones seemed to ache, even her fingernails, and when she moved, she felt as if she’d aged a hundred years.

Gradually it came to her that she must get up, that it was extremely urgent she move. Pengorren was here—he could be standing outside the door right now—and both she and Nathaniel were in terrible danger. She didn’t let herself think about Suzie and Eddie. Not yet, not now. Blame and grief would come later.

Slowly, she eased her legs off the bed to the floor and, gripping the iron railings on the bedhead, dragged herself upright into a sitting position. At once the darkness started to swim, and she dropped her head into her hands with a groan. It seemed to take ages for her vision to clear, and longer again for her to feel it was safe to get to her feet. The first step was the worst, but the next was better.

Her strength was returning. Slowly but surely, it was coming back. She really was powerful. She hadn’t understood until now just how strong she was. As powerful as Pengorren? Perhaps. One thing was for certain, she wasn’t going to let him destroy her without a fight. He’d had his way for far too long.

The corridor was so dark she had to stand a moment and let her eyes adjust. The whole house seemed to be blacked out, and she wondered if someone had done that on purpose or if it was an electrical fault. Maybe Nathaniel was trying to confuse Pengorren, or vice versa.

She hoped Nathaniel was okay. She didn’t remember the fight very clearly, but from what she did remember it was Pengorren, not Nathaniel or Teth, who was getting the worst of it.

But where were they now? Everything was so quiet.

Suddenly she realized she’d stopped breathing and was feeling dizzy again. She gulped some air, but that was worse, so she forced herself to slow it down and take even, steady breaths.

As she grew calmer, her mind began to open up, tentatively reaching out beyond the corridor to the landing, then down the stairs and into the hall. There was nothing there, so she sought farther afield, her mind tiptoeing a little at a time, afraid of what she might find.

Despite her caution she landed herself right in the middle of it before she could stop. Dark, gooey, and unpleasant. Pengorren. Mentally she backed away, terrified, wondering if he could sense her as she was able to sense him. But after a moment, when he hadn’t come after her mentally or in the flesh, she gave a sigh of relief.

Next time he found her, he wouldn’t hesitate, she knew that. He’d kill her, and then spread his evil once more throughout the world.

The corridor was dark and airless. She’d have to move, but the thought of creeping through the black house was terrifying. She took a slow, cautious step, and then another, pausing to check it was safe. Soon she’d reached the top of the stairs.

Her eyes were adjusting to the dark now—better than they ever had, but she didn’t want to think about that, or what she was becoming. She could see that the table on the landing was upended, one of the legs smashed, signs of the struggle between Teth and Pengorren.

Who had won? She didn’t even know that. The fact that she’d felt Pengorren’s presence meant he was still around, still alive. She could only pray that Nathaniel and Teth were, too.

Clutching the banister with one hand, Melanie began to descend the staircase.